A numerical method for the determination of first-order kinetics relaxation time spectra

A numerical method is developed for computing relaxation-time spectra from time-domain measurements. The method starts with an assumed spectrum. This spectrum is altered and adjusted by comparing the data calculated from the assumed spectrum with the measured data. The approach is essentially an inverse Laplace transformation for the measured data. The method is suitable for broad spectra as well as for narrow relaxation-time spectra. Measurements performed on polyimide and aluminium oxide illustrate the capabilities of the method. The stability against noise in the data is investigated, and a smoothing procedure is described.<
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